Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:16 am
Darrel - to a large extent the natural world doesn't sexually mess with juveniles (although juvenile primates practice on each other, as best they can with immature equipment) - nor does the natural world (with a very few exceptions) deal in rape. Once you get away from invertibrates (I'm not in favor of the sexual behaviors of the black widow spider or the preying mantis to be extrapolated to humankind), you mostly are dealing with sex between mature individuals when the female is at the point in her cycle to most likely result in offspring - and she initiates (or at least solicits) the action. In some species (dogs, for example) older/alpha males will "mount" younger males in a display of dominence - not very different from human prisons and boys' schools (and to a much lesser extent, girls' schools), except in nature it's less intrusive and violent. Species that fight for dominence (bovines) may or may not be more violent, but dominence fights in nature, unlike human society, are seldom fatal (and then only by accident).
The real issue of "how bad is it" with Foley comes from the fact that he was dealing with socially and emotionally immature, but sexually more-or-less mature, males. Our society delays social/emotional maturity in our kids and so the boys Foley was dealing with were not old enough to be "consenting adults" even though they are physically beyond the most outwardly obvious stages of puberty (the internal changes/maturation won't be completed for at least another 5 years). That is a real problem in our society - when you say "kids" or "children" just what age group/puberty level are you talking about? In earlier times in this country, and still in some countries, those boys Foley was most assuredly inappropriately interacting with would have been considered men, and wouldn't have been pages at all - they might still be in school, if their social status permitted a "profession," but otherwise they'd have jobs and possibly families already - and girls their age would be mothers with society's approval. The part that makes it hypocrisy is those pages are underage by our laws - the laws he had a hand in passing - and trusted to the Congress - he broke his own laws and abused the trust.
The real issue of "how bad is it" with Foley comes from the fact that he was dealing with socially and emotionally immature, but sexually more-or-less mature, males. Our society delays social/emotional maturity in our kids and so the boys Foley was dealing with were not old enough to be "consenting adults" even though they are physically beyond the most outwardly obvious stages of puberty (the internal changes/maturation won't be completed for at least another 5 years). That is a real problem in our society - when you say "kids" or "children" just what age group/puberty level are you talking about? In earlier times in this country, and still in some countries, those boys Foley was most assuredly inappropriately interacting with would have been considered men, and wouldn't have been pages at all - they might still be in school, if their social status permitted a "profession," but otherwise they'd have jobs and possibly families already - and girls their age would be mothers with society's approval. The part that makes it hypocrisy is those pages are underage by our laws - the laws he had a hand in passing - and trusted to the Congress - he broke his own laws and abused the trust.
